History of Alameda County, California : including its geology, topography, soil, and productions, Part 65

Author: Munro-Fraser, J. P
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Oakland, Calif. : M.W. Wood
Number of Pages: 1206

USA > California > Alameda County > History of Alameda County, California : including its geology, topography, soil, and productions > Part 65

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MURRAY TOWNSHIP.

that worthy gentleman and scholar, John W. Kottinger. From this pioneer, with whom we had a most interesting conversation and from whom we gained much valuable information, we learn that he came to the township in the month of August, 1851, and found already located an Englishman named Strickland, presumably the one already mentioned, lived five miles from Pleasanton on the El Valle Creek; near to him dwelt a trapper and hunter named Cook, and Francisco Alviso resided on the eastern bank of the Laguna Creek. In this year also, Juan P. Bernal commenced building his residence on the east side of the Laguna Creek and completed it in 1852, it being the habitation lately occupied by Joseph Black. On the bank of the stream known as the Old San Joaquin, in 1851, Thomas McLaughlin located, he being still a resident there engaged in fishing, while about that time, or shortly thereafter, Edward Carroll and a man named Wright took up a claim in the section known as Corral Hollow, where also in the same season Captain Jack O'Brien, commenced sheep-raising. Alphonso Ladd and his family also settled in Suñol Valley in 1851, where he built a two-story frame building, which he occupied until removing to and founding Ladds- ville, the eastern portion of the present town of Livermore, while Mr. Kottinger built unto himself the frame building now standing on the east side of Main Street, in the village of Pleasanton and occupied by Henry Strang.

Thus are we brought to the year 1852, one which saw the acquiring of a vast tract of land by American capital, for it is at this period that J. W. Dougherty came to the township and purchased the lands of Don José Maria Amador, which still remain in the hands of his son. Mr. Dougherty was a native of Tennessee, and as we have elsewhere said occupied the original Amador "adobe" until its being rendered uninhabitable by an earthquake. In this year, too, the Señors Lorenzo and Juan Suñol moved up into the Suñol Valley. These gentlemen were nephews of the grantee, and resided there for only about four years.

The year 1853 is a momentous one in the annals of the district now under con- sideration, for on January 6th it received its baptismal rites and by metes and bounds became an accomplished fact as Murray Township, what these boundaries were will be found on page 171 of this work. On that same date Robert Livermore was appointed Supervisor for the township. During that year (perhaps in the following) Greene Patterson erected a frame house about two miles southeast from where the town of Livermore now stands, while about the same time R. W. Defrees built and opened a caravansary on the main road about one mile west from the residence of Mr. Livermore. Not long after-in the same year-Thomas Hart came to the district, was employed by Livermore for some time, and in 1854 bought the hostelry mentioned above and called it the " Half-way House," it being popularly supposed to have been equidistant between Oakland, Stockton, and San José. Here Hart resided until 1860, when he removed to the town of Livermore, where he died in 1871. Among the settlers who came. to the township in 1853 we have the name of John Whitman, who with his family took up his residence on the west side of Laguna Creek on land near Pleasanton now owned by Charles Duerr.

In 1854, during the autumn, Richard T. Pope came to the township, settled on part of the ranch now owned by J. P. Smith, and there engaged in stock-raising for eleven years, when, disposing of his property, he moved to the location he now occupies. Mr.

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HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.

Pope says that when he came to the township he found Messrs. Grover and Glascock occupying a portion of the ranch where Mr. Smith now is; Ben. Williams was also living there; while John G. Griffith was on the place now owned by Mr. Black. In this year J. West Martin and others came to the section of country near Pleasanton and were the first to embark in farming upon a considerable scale two years later on the land now occupied by Abijah Baker. In the Spring of the year Simon Zimmer- man located at the Mountain House, where he now resides, on the Stockton road fourteen miles from Livermore, but as we have already told the tale connected there- with we need not further trespass upon the time of the reader.

In 1855 Hiram Bailey, a carpenter, came over to Livermore Valley from Contra Costa to erect a dwelling-house for Joseph, son of Robert Livermore, in the eastern end of the valley, and here has he since made his home. In or about this year, or early in 1856, Frank Heare came to the place now known as Midway and settled in what was called the "Zinc House;" while F. W. Lucas it is said settled near Mr. Pope.

It has been estimated that at this period there were fully fifty thousand head of cattle and horses in the township, besides immense bands of sheep in the hills and mountains. Very few attempts at agriculture had been made, it being generally believed that the soil would produce nothing but grass. At Livermore's place, Alisal (Pre tsanton) and Amador's both grain and vegetables had been raised, but in a very sm ill way. Everybody in the valley was interested in stock-raising, and no other- industry was in operation, nor hardly thought of. In the year 1856, however, the first blow toward the complete revolution of the industrial interests of the district was struck. Joseph Livermore had some time previously fenced a hundred-and-sixty-acre field on the Pocitas Grant, including a portion of the ranch now owned by Almon Weymouth, and that year sowed the same to wheat. This was the first field of grain ever raised in the Livermore Valley. In this year among the new-comers we have the names of Thomas Rafferty, J. L. Bangs, and Michael McCollier, while to this year is also the honor of seeing the first educational establishment in the township erected. It was placed about three-quarters of a mile south from Dublin and was first taught by M. G. Higgins.

In the Spring of 1857 Joseph Black and two brothers named Carrick began raising wheat in the west end of Livermore Valley, the first-named gentleman putting in four hundred acres on the ranch of Jeremiah Fallon and the brothers a like amount on the Dougherty estate, adjoining. In the Summer of 1857 Robert Livermore began sinking an artesian well near his residence. George Duel, a traveling well- borer, had charge of the work, which lasted seven months, and, owing to the high charges for labor and prices of material at the time, cost a very large sum. A depth of about seven hundred feet had been reached at the time of Mr. Livermore's death; at which period the work was abandoned. At that sounding the water came within ten feet of the surface. A cross-pipe was put in and a flowing stream of water brought out on the hill-side below the house. The cost of this well (which is still flowing), was not less than five thousand dollars.

The year 1858 is a sad one in the history of Murray Township. Robert Liver- more, the pioneer par excellence of that district departed this life on the fourteenth

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day of February. For over a quarter of a century had he dwelt within the hill- begirted valley which took his name, beloved and honored by all with whom he came in contact. A sturdy and adventurous argonaut he wrested that beautiful vale from the possession of the wily and murderous savage and paved the way for the onward march of civilization. The level plains where his countless herds stood to the breast in wild oats and clover, and the ribbed foot-hills, which offered him safety when pur- sued by the savage and relentless Indian foe, know him no more. Savage and herds have disappeared, never to return. ( Civilization has come and peopled the wilderness as with magic wand. Livermore was a good, brave, and enterprising man. Sur- rounded as he was by a class to whom the word "enterprise," or its signification, was almost a stranger, he displayed that quality to a most remarkable degree. Thousands upon thousands were spent by him upon improvements of which another man in his position would never have thought. His house was always open to the traveler, and many are now living who can testify to his hospitality. Then, all honor to Robert Livermore; and let his name endure in the hearts of the people as long as lasts the beautiful valley he loved so well.

In the fall of 1858 Supervisor John Green came to the township and found, near where Dublin now stands, Edward Horan on a portion of the Dougherty property; four miles to the eastward lived William Murray, while about the same time John Martin and his family came up from San Mateo County and located among the rolling hills about a mile and a half from Dublin; and not long after James F. Kapp and Robert Graham settled in the township.

Among those who arrived in 1859 was Adam Fath, who located on land now owned by Charles Mclaughlin, about six miles from Livermore, while in this year year the first church in the township was erected in the neighborhood of Green's Hotel, in Dublin.

In the year 1860 Mr. Zimmerman started a school in his residence already men- tioned, which was first taught by Miss White. The following year, however, it was transferred to a position on the plain about two miles and a half north of its former locale, but still bears its original euphonious name of Mountain House. In this year Lysander Stone and William Meek came to the township, while it was in 1860 the first town in Murray Township was started. This is the hamlet of Dublin, whose history will be found further on, and which had the honor of harboring Michael Murray and J. W. Dougherty for several years. In the year 1860 Hiram Bailey sowed eighty acres of wheat on the Positas Grant, three miles north of Livermore, and in the same year Joseph Black rented four hundred acres from Dougherty in addition to that he was already farming on the Fallon Ranch. In that year, also, S. B. Martin, who had in 1854 purchased the Santa Rita Rancho, increased his sowing area by several hundred acres.

During 1861 the acreage of sowed land was increased by Alexander Esdon by a thousand acres, situated next to Joseph Black's place on the Dougherty estate, while Hiram Bailey, too, added to his farming operations.

In 1862, when Charles Hadsell came to the Suñol Valley, he found the old por- tion of the house in which he now resides, but a short time before evacuated by Nar- cisco, son of Don Antonio Suñol, but it had been previously occupied by the eldest

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HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.

son, who was murdered, in the spring of 1855, near the Mission San José. The Argenti Hotel was then kept by a Frenchman named Bertrand. George Buttner lived where he does at present, while Samuel Bonner resided near where Suñol Station now is; farther down the Laguna Creek was Isaac Trough, and not far from him was a man named Higgins. In this year wheat-raising was in full progress in the west end of Livermore Valley; fences sprung up everywhere, stock was crowded up towards the Livermore Ranch (which was then thought unfit for agricultural purposes) and flour- producing grain became an established fact, the yield, in many instances, being enor- mous, while the general average was about a ton to the acre. The number of cattle was still on the increase, there being in that year no fewer than eight thousand head of calves branded on the rancho of the Bernals. In 1863, of the settlers who came to the township we have been enabled to learn of John Booken, Amos S. Bangs, and Maas Lueders.

In 1863-64, that commonly known as the "dry year," two brothers named Bean farmed about four hundred acres of the Bernal Grant, two miles southeast of the Livermore House, where the yield of grain was immense. At this period, too, John W. Kottinger sold some lots where now is the town of Pleasanton, to Jake Teeters, William Whittner, and Doctor Goucher, who at once built houses and started in their several occupations of blacksmith, carpenter, and medical practitioner.

In the year 1864 that excellent citizen and pioneer of 1846, William M. Menden- hall took up his abode near Livermore, where he has since resided-one of its fore- most residents; and in this year the Pleasanton School, which stood to the south of Mrs. McLaughlin's house, was opened, under the tuition of a Mr. Powell. This year George May purchased a ranch on the grant near the east end of Livermore Valley, and put in two hundred acres of wheat, which produced an enormous crop, although scarcely any one had faith in the experiment, while that same season Richard Threlfall of . Centreville leased four hundred acres adjoining Bean's, from which he had a large yield.

Encouraged by these results the sowing season of 1865-66 opened auspiciously, while the demands for land largely increased. Threlfall sowed one thousand seven hundred acres in the eastern end of Livermore Valley, belonging to Francisco Auro- coechea; Alexander Esdon bought six hundred acres of the Rancho el Valle de San José, or Bernal Grant, adjoining the ranch the former had farmed during the pre- vious year, and sowed it all. He also farmed a large tract on the Dougherty property, thus making his lands under crop that season twenty-eight hundred acres. In this year a school was opened where now stands Scott's store, near Suñol, under the direc- tion of Mrs. Sam. Brown, while among those who arrived and made their permanent homes within the limits of the township, we have the names of Doctor I. N. Mark, Frederick and Charles Rose, Martin Mendenhall, Hugh Dougherty, and Peter McKeany.

Thus far is it our intention to bring the settlement of Murray Township. We think the chief points in its history have been attained, and with considerable correct- ness, be it for the reader to indorse that statement.

The large yield produced by the lands above enumerated, which only a few years before had been deemed worthless, except for pastoral purposes, could not but induce

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a large immigration. Settlers came in great numbers, and either by purchase or pre-emption located in the district in every direction. There was one drawback, however, to the immediate development and improvement of the country; this was the uncertainty of land titles. The chief cause of this was doubt regarding the boundaries of the Positas or Livermore Grant. The United States Patent, which was issued February 18, 1859, granted "two leagues, more or less," within certain boundaries. The limits described, however, contained upwards of eleven leagues, which amount was claimcd by the heirs of Robert Livermore. On March 1, 1871, this matter was definitely set- tled by the approval of the second Dyer Survey (two leagues) by the Commissioner of the General Land Office at Washington, in accordance with a decision by the Sec- retary of the Interior, a decision which threw open for peaceable pre-emption a large extent of country, and, coming as it did immediately after the completion of the railroad through the valley, resulted in bringing in a large population. Towns sprung up as if by magic; every year widened the extent of the grain-fields, and witnessed the building of new homes. As will always follow, the stock interests had given way before the plow of the sturdy husbandman, and the hut of the Mexican vaquero was supplanted by the cozy cottage of the tiller of the soil.

The lover of the beautiful in Nature can spend many delightful days in Murray Township and its cañons. Here can be found every variety of scenery, from the broad but quiet panorama of valley and foot-hill to the wild, rugged mountain gorge hemmed in by ridges a thousand feet in height, and adown the bed of which, at times during the winter months, roll torrents of water in many a beautiful cascade.

ALTAMONT .- This hamlet is situated some eight miles east of Livermore and is on the line of the Central Pacific Railroad. It derives its name from its position in the Livermore Pass, it being seven hundred and forty-nine feet above the level of the sea. When William H. Wright came there and settled, in the fall of 1869, he found an hotel, kept by Edward Hobler, about a quarter of a mile above the present site of the village, and which had been built in the spring of 1868. Of the residents in the vicinity at the time there were John Campbell, a quarter of a mile below the village, where he located in 1868; E. Cockerton dwelt where he does now, about a mile and a half to the northwest, who also came in 1868; near him resided Nicholas Shearer, who afterwards lost his life in the Modoc war; there was no house between Altamont and Livermore; Alexander McKelvey lived on the place now occupied by Thomas Ryder, while near to them was Thomas Gunn.

Before 1868 there was no agricultural farming in the section, the land being almost all taken up by sheep runs, among the sheep-raisers being Charles Hobler, now a wealthy resident of Fresno County, who commenced that pursuit in 1864. The store in the hamlet was opened by William H. Wright, in 1872, and during the same year he put up his dwelling-house. In 1870 the school house was erected, since when it has been considerably enlarged, the first teacher being Miss Lelia Stone; while the same year saw the erection of the depot, which was placed under charge of E. Bridgeman.

Altamont consists of only about a dozen houses, but in its neighborhood is an extensive and excellent quarry of building-stone, which only needs development to .

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HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.

become extremely valuable. The little hamlet is situated in the midst of an undu- lating country, capable of the highest cultivation.

DUBLIN .- This village is situated on the main traveled road between Oakland and Stockton, and about nine miles due west of Livermore. Here it was that Don José Maria Amador erected his adobe, which afterwards passed into the hands of J. W. Dougherty; and here also was it that Michael Murray, the godfather of the town- ship, pitched his tent. Other than these residences, the first house built in the hamlet was by John Green, who opened a store in 1860 on the site now occupied by the Amador Valley Hotel, and where the stages running between Oakland and Stockton, and San José and Martinez, changed horses. Six months later Scarlett & Grandlees put up what is now Marsh's Hotel, and thus the little village had its start. Here, in 1856, the first school in Murray Township was opened, and here the Roman Catholic denomination built, in 1859, a commodious church, near which is the only Catholic cemetery in the township. At one time Dublin was a place of considerable business activity, but the building of the railroad drew trade away from it, and 'left it naught but its departed glories. The soil in the vicinity possesses great fertility, there being within a few miles of the village several thousand acres of as rich land as is to be found on the Pacific Coast.

It is not precisely known how this place got its name. We fail to find a stream running through its center answering to the Liffey of Ireland's capital. It is said that in this locality most of the early settlers hailed from the " Green Ould Isle," and thus the only two clusters of houses were respectively named Dublin and Limerick (San Ramon) by the facetious American, but, mutato nomine-the name being changed- the first is occasionally called by the possibly less Hibernian cognomen of Dougherty's Station !

LIVERMORE .- With hills on every side and planted in the heart of the valley of the same name, stands the town of Livermore, which needs no spirit of prophecy to say whence came its title. Here have we truly a large inland city in embryo, and on every hand the necessary desiderata to make it so. It is located partly on two grants -the Las Pocitas and El Valle de San José-and sprang into life in the year 1869 with the advent of the Central Pacific Railroad. A portion of it known as Ladds- ville was a town before then; it is our purpose now to commence with its foundation.

We have already shown that in the year 1850 there came to the township and settled in the Suñol Valley one Alphonso Ladd. In the spring of 1864 he pre- empted a quarter-section of land near the " Old Livermore House," and on it erected for himself a small dwelling, which was the initial building in the place called Ladds- ville, and within the limits of the present town of Livermore. Later he commenced the construction of an hotel, the lumber for which he brought from Mowry's Landing, and completed it that fall. This was a fine frame building, costing a good deal of money. It, however, fell a prey to the devouring element during the year 1876, leav- ing naught but blackened ruins to mark its site. Having thus formed the nucleus of a town, he soon found neighbors. In the month of September Adam Fath built a dwelling-house not far from Ladd's, and occupied it, while, in a short time after, a

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Spaniard named Alexander Mesa opened a saloon, that accessory to a rising place thought more necessary than church or school. The first store was started in the winter of 1865, by Henry Goetjen, who built a little house on the side of the rising ground above Ladd's, and he was followed in the next season by a blacksmith from Haywards, who set up his shop near to him. At this time, 1866, it was found necessary to do some- thing by way of educating the rising generation, therefore a subscription was raised, a school district organized, a school house built, and Miss Weeks placed in charge thereof. In that winter, December 1866, the first free or publie school was opened with J. M. Ginn as teacher. In 1867 Mesa's house was bought by Ladd, who moved it into the town, and the following year R. W. Graham, of Haywards, erected a large building near Ladd's Hotel, and commenced operations in it as a dealer in general merchandise, where he also conducted the first post-office. Next came the Italian restaurant of Anton Bardellini, and about the same time a man named Elliott opened a livery-stable. Israel Horton then built the first house used exclusively as a dwelling, while it was quickly followed by the store of Joseph Harris, the drug-store of Knight & Sproul, Booken's saloon, and other buildings. In 1868 Beazell & Crowell erected their blacksmith-shop, which was followed soon after by the residence of A. J. McLeod. The first child born in Laddsville was Elsie, daughter of Israel Horton.

Above we have tried to enumerate the first buildings on what is now the south side of the railroad track, and the McLeod addition of the town of Livermore. Let us now turn to the growth of that town itself.

During the summer of 1869 the line of the Central Pacific Railroad was pushed through the valley and the first depot located about half a mile to the west of Ladds- ville, the first train having made its appearance in August of that year. In the pre- vious July William M. Mendenhall, already mentioned as a pioneer of pioneers, own- ing a large traet to the west of Laddsville, presented twenty acres to the railroad company, on which to place the depot, and had a town site surveyed, which he called Livermore, in perpetuation of the name of the hardy old settler. This was the sig- nal for a grand building excitement, the first to commence being C. J. Stevens, who constructed his grist-mill there in the year 1869. This enterprise, which was origi- nally started in Union City, or Alvarado, at a very early date, had its day of useful- ness, and was burned to the ground on the night of October 16, 1882 Mr. Stevens' action was quickly followed by the store of A. J. McLeod, now occupied by his sons, the Livermore Hotel, R. B. Campbell's private residence, and others, such as Mendenhall's ware-house, and Whitmore's store. In the following year, 1870, a piece of ground situated on the Arroyo Mocho was donated by W. M. Mendenhall for the purposes of a collegiate institution, which was erected in the same year with the style of the " Livermore Collegiate Institute," which is justly a pride to the inhabitants, and of which an interesting history will be found elsewhere, while February 12, 1871, saw the organization of the " First Presbyterian Church of Livermore," with the appoint- ment of Daniel Inman, W. B. Kingsbury, Jesse Bowles, F. A. Anthony, and Hiram Bailey as Trustees. In the month of November of this year the fiery fiend laid low the principal portion of Laddsville, which caused the business of that place to be transferred to the new town, and gave to it a great impetus. In 1872 a Roman

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Catholic church was erected, while in 1873 the Odd Fellows raised their building two stories high, and the Presbyterians built their neat little church edifice.

Between 1870 and 1872 the population of the town and its business had doubled, while we are happy to say that its prosperity remains unimpaired. In May, 1874, the first newspaper was started and called the Enterprise. On February I, 1877, it came under the management of W. P. Bartlett, as editor and proprietor, when the name was changed to the Livermore Herald, which will be found more fully described else- where. In 1875 water was brought from the Las Pocitas Springs by the Livermore Spring Water Company, and distributed through the town.

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History of Alameda County, California : including its geology, topography, soil, and productions, Part 65

Author: Munro-Fraser, J. P Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Oakland, Calif. : M.W. Wood Number of Pages: 1206

Author: Munro-Fraser, J. P
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Oakland, Calif. : M.W. Wood
Number of Pages: 1206